Danh’s Comments (group member since Oct 24, 2012)

Danh’s comments from the Writers group.

Thanks

The joy and wonder of the lifelong dance (the final installment of the dance trilogy)
by Annamarie Jeana Orwig Pham
I uneasily step forward
My teacher places my hands into the hands of my new partner
I look uneasy as the music begins to play
We each take a step earlier than we should and step on each others feet.
"I can't do this!" I say and start to walk awaybut theteacher is right behind me and i cannot leave.
He turns me around and places my hands back into the hands of this new dance partner.
Again the familiar music starts but these hands are
unfamiliar
and the thought of that
makes my steps ackward
I feel clumsy

slowly we count our steps
1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4...
My teacher makes corrections then and again
there are a few stops and starts as we bump heads and step on toes but
with each lesson we get better and better.

I look into the eyes of my partner
I notice a warmth there
a kind of enigmatic energy
brown and fetching
i could gaze upon them all day.

I look away
afraid
terrified
petrified
might he be like the man of the night?
No, I decide, The teacher set us as partners
again i look and see the same question in his eyes.
As i look something catches my attention.
His neck
his arms
even his face
they all have the same scars that marr my own appearance.
Had he experienced the same as I?
I pause our dance and touch a scar giving him a questioning glance
He quickly turned away
shame coloring his face

I gently turn him around and show him the matching scars on my neck.
I see the recognition in his eyes as he pulls me into his embrace and the dance begins again.
we dance
we twirl
as our teacher
becomes orchestrator
we dance
and twirl
as never before
its nice
we dance
on moonbeams
and bright starlight
it's right
we dance
and twirl
listening to music
its perfect
it's for us
its lovely
I look at our orchestrator and smile
he smiles back still waving his baton at the
ochestra of sun, moo,n stars, and milkyway dust
swirling around us as we dance. He nods towards my partner
and my partner nods back

As we dance I remember what was said when i first tried to quit
"Even when you learn this dance completly there will be others to
learn. You will step on each others toes and bump heads quite a
bit but this is part of learning. Do not give up because if you do
you will never know the joy and wonder of the lifelong dance."

the lure of the dance (companion to the pain and ecstasy of the dance)
by Annamarie Jeana Orwig Pham on Thursday, February 17, 2011 at 6:28am ·
for thoes of you that saw the origional here is the companion piece to the pain and the ecstacy of the dance.


His voice is a whisper only my heart can hear,
A faint melody only my feat dance to,
words bearly audible make my soul take flight.
I hold out my arms and I dance learning step by step from my father unseen.

I close my eyes and feel his hands in mine and how he guides my steps.

Somewhere in the dark i hear a once boy grown man learning the steps of a partnerless dance.

No, not for me... Ive learned this lesson before...
I remember my dance with the man of the night and will not do that again!
I focus my attention back.

I dance my dance of love, twirling with eyes shut tight. Falling back into step with the the teacher who has always been their for me.

A barely audible whisper tickles the eardrums of my feet. I do not understand the whisper but i eventually discern that it is saying
LISTEN
I pause in my dance and listen.
First i listen with my heart,
no sound.
Then with my mind,
not there...
Then with my ears,
ah there.
A movement,a rustle, a tapping of a foot... the sound of dancing.
Dancing a dance to a rythm never heard aloud but one my heart knows well.
A dance known to me intimatly... Come to think of it...the dance sounds like my own...
I feel a whisper play across the harpsicord of my heart, just as before it is a mystery to me but i know it must say
LOOK
Now knowing to open my eyes i do so and see quite an interesting sight.
A once boy now grown man dancing partnerless.
Surprisingly enough it is the same dance i was dancing only moments before but not the part I was familiar with. It was the part always danced by my father God.

Words heard with my eyes mysteriously explain that a partner is learning my dance...
I shut tight my eyes, my heart, my ears, terrified of what this might mean.
"No! Only you." I tell my unseen father.

I feel his hand lead and i walk with him not knowing where we go.

Images flitter across my minds eye of a musical seen long ago.
A rabbi and a maiden dance together each holding the end of a hankerchief.

I AM THE HANKERCHIEF
I hear from somewhere deep inside
IF EACH OF YOU HOLD TIGHT ONTO ME YOUR DANCE WILL WORK AS IT SHOULD.


Now i am left with a decision...

Do i dance? or do i sit it out?

I might like dancing...

maybe...

The pain and ecstasy of the dance
by Annamarie Jeana Orwig Pham
Darkness covered the face of the deep.
Darkness
Stillness
Everywhere and no where
I was inside the deep, dark, stillness that was
everywhere and no where all at once.

God met me there

It was as illuminating as the sun and as lovely as the moon but coming and going like flashes of lightning.

Flashes in the night
Come and gone
then darkness again

Why won't he stay?

It was a love affair to remember,
But one I'd soon forget.

Running chasing I'd run he'd chase a heavenly hide and seek. When we'd meet we'd dance.

Twirling
Twirling
Twirling
His love surrounding me
Enveloping me like a blanket, swallowing me whole. A love so divine, so enrapturing it was sweeter than the sweetest honey and more beautiful than a full circled rainbow.

When I was with him (my god, my lover, my friend) it was only then the sun would come out of its hiding place. Only then the birds would sing and my soul take flight.
One day I ran to far
I got distracted
A face in the darkness
A face that appeared to illuminate the night
A human face
He claimed to love me in a way no one else could, that he could provide all I lacked.
He showered me with love

I could hear my true loves call beckoning, calling me back.
I heeded not his call.
This man intrigued me
Who was this man who could
light up the night?

"My beloved it's a trick. 'Tis only a flashlight! I AM the sun I AM the moon and I AM the stars. My darling come back I beseech thee."

I heeded not his call. I began a new dance with the man of the night.

We twirled
We danced
We loved
We flung caution
To the wind
We did what we should not.
The voice of my first love called to me.
"My dear one, this is not my plan for you. Come back to me, I will fulfill all the desires of your heart. This will not fulfill you. Come to me my dearest, let us dance on the moon and in the stars as we once did."

I heeded not his call.
I reared in anger.

"Your jealous!
You don't want me to be loved!
I don't need you!
Don't make me choose,
I'll take him instead of you!"

My first love stepped back.
The man of the night and I danced
We danced till light began to fade.
I was soaring
(not as high though)
"who cares?" I asked myself
"This will last."

Then,
The man of the night pulled out a package, a gift.
I opened it and it was a rifle. "An odd gift." I thought as I continued to dance.

I
Did
Not
Notice that he no longer danced.

I twirled
And twirled
Forcing my
Flight trying with
Sheer will
To float
He took aim
I twirled unaware

A shot rang out
Then another
I plummeted
Twirling
All the while
As I sped toward
The ground
I didn't understand.
I ran to him.

A faint voice called out
"My beloved, come back to me, I chase you
still but you run to fast and to far. I love you!
My heart beats for you!"

Once again I heeded not his call.

I continued to run after my fleshy desire
Faster and faster toward the man of the night.
He stopped
I was relieved
"My love!" I called out
He pulled out a bow and fired flaming arrows at me.
The man of the night no longer had any illumination.
So I ran
And ran
And ran
And ran
And ran
I looked up and realized I was lost
Lost and it was dark.
Empty
Nothingness
Stillness
Covering the
Face of the
Deep once
Again
Then I began to see
Flashes of light
In the distance.
I was interested.
But I was frightened.I could not run anymore. What if the man of the night found me? I was running out of time.
The flashes of the night were upon me. I closed my eyes, squeezed them tight as I felt agonizing pain wash over me. I looked and saw, over me, the hand of my first love and clutched in his fist an arrow.

Was he that angry that he too would attack me now?

I covered my head with my hands as the pain washed over me again and again until it finally stopped.
Then a new agony.
A scrubbing so intense it felt as though my skin was being peeled away.Then more stabbing and digging. Then a pulling and more pulling over and over.

I cried out for mercy!
The response?

"That is what I AM doing my precious, showing mercy."
"Your attacking me!" I cried.
"Open you eyes my child, I attack you not. I've pulled out all you arrows, scrubbed your wounds, pulled out all the bullets and sewn you shut, closing the gaping wound you've left behind."
I looked and true to his word my flesh was whole and my wounds were healed... the physical ones at least.
"My beloved, you left me for the man of the night. You told me you would prefer him to me and for that..."
I interrupted "I should die. You should
leave me to be alone in the darkness never
to see the light again!"
"As I was saying..." He continued
"For that,
I forgive you.
Come to me my
darling I love you!
I love you in ways you
cannot even begin to imagine.
My love for you is unchanging,
unfailing. When the music stops or
you miss a step, I do not stop loving you
I AM the same yesterday today tomorrow and forever
And nothing can change my love for you! Neither angels nor
Demons nor heights not depths nor rulers, nor principalities...(not
even you) can change my love for you. Come back to me my darling, my flawless one. Let me woo you once again. Lets dance!"
Stubbornly I replied
"I've forgotten how to dance!"
Then he knelt beside me.
And the sun came out
The birds came out and sang their song.
Joy filled my heart
as I looked into his eyes.
"I will teach you, we will dance as we never had! It will be hard at first. Learning to walk then to dance. Small steps at a time"
He lifts me up with ease.
I am too weak to walk let alone dance
He carries me in his arms
And he twirls
And we soar
Twirling toward
The heavens
Night becoming
Day around us
I am my beloved and my beloved is mine once again.